July 10, 2012 – Southeastern Colorado/CDOT Region 2 – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) begins a three-bridge improvement project on U.S. 160 next week, east and west of Pritchett.

CDOT is replacing the bridges with concrete box culverts at North Fork Sand Arroyo (built 1935), 11 miles west of Pritchett and at Lone Rock Draw (built 1936), four miles west of Pritchett. The bridge at Cat Creek (built 1939), about three miles west of U.S. 287, will be rehabilitated.

Work gets underway on Monday, July 16. Project hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with potential work taking place at night and weekends. Occasional traffic stops up to 10 minutes are possible during working hours. The speed limit will be reduced to 35 mph through each work zone and vehicles wider than 12 feet will not be allowed to travel through the area since the highway shoulders will be closed during construction.

Two lanes of traffic will continue on the Cat Creek Bridge (picture attached), with the exception of one week of paving and guard rail installation, requiring flaggers to alternate single lane traffic over the bridge. At Lone Rock Draw, signals will alternate traffic over ½ of the bridge; at North Fork Sand Arroyo, a one-lane detour will be built, with signals alternating eastbound and westbound traffic.

“All three structures are rated in poor condition and don’t meet current highway standards,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Paul Westhoff. “We’re rehabilitating the Cat Creek Bridge by relining the arch underneath the structure and widening the deck. The other two bridges are being replaced with culverts since it’s more cost-effective. When it’s finished, safety will be enhanced since all three locations will have wider shoulders, giving vehicles a sufficient area to pull-off the highway, providing a buffer from on-coming traffic that doesn’t exist now.”

American Civil Constructors, Inc. of Littleton, Colo. is the project’s prime contractor.

FASTER – Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery – is fully funding the $2.2 million project. Financed by vehicle registration fees, FASTER established a Statewide Bridge Enterprise, funding the maintenance and repair of Colorado’s most urgent structurally-deficient and functionally-obsolete bridges. More information is available at: www.coloradodot.info/programs/BridgeEnterprise